Thanks. Went by there today and Estes is the source here. They had a lot of varieties. One they called, panfrys, I have never heard of. They were cheap and very small, may'be bantys? Salesman didn't know. A lot of the chicks there had manure stuck to their behinds? I guess they are stressed a lot in those fishbowl cages with folks walking by constantly.

Our Orscheln buys from Estes Hatchery. We wanted breeds Orscheln didn't have early on last year, so bought directly from Estes. We received 28 chicks that arrived 100% alive, and all lived except 1 that had something wrong with it's joints in its feet. My daughter showed 4 in the county fair, and won every class she entered with her Estes pullets and a cockerel. They aren't show quality, but they were big, strong birds (Welsummer and Ameraucana). The Welsummers now lay Large to Extra Large eggs, and the Ameraucanas all lay Large eggs except one, who lays Medium to Large. The Ameraucanas lay blue eggs except the small one, whose eggs are halfway between blue and light olive.

Glad to hear you are pleased with your birds from Estes. I have four, a black star, RIR, JG and a buff orp. Hopefully pullets. The BS is really vigorous and growing fast. I'm still curious about the "panfrys" they had. Thought they might be cornishx but they were awfully small?

I realize this post is really old, but from what I understood when I worked at Orschelns is that the 'panfrys' are basically any miscellaneous breed cockerals that nobody ordered. THey sell them cheap to get rid of them, any most people just butcher them out. Now, the Cornishx, do not get those if you are looking for layers or pets! They grow very quickly and bulk up fast. THey are meant to be butchered by 8 weeks because if they get any older they will have a miserable crippled life.